India sees spike of over 50,000 Covid-19 cases after 10 days; 704 deaths in 24 hours

The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities

After 12 days, India’s fresh Covid-19 count crossed the 50,000-mark once again on Thursday riding high on the recent surges seen in Kerala and Delhi.

According to the official records maintained by the Union Health Ministry, there were 50,210 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 83.64 lakh. The death toll stands at 124,315 including 704 new fatalities. It was on October 25 when the 50,000 barrier was reached last time.

CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL COVERAGE ONLY ON DH

The majority of the new cases came from Kerala (8,516), which was witnessing a steady rise since the last month in the wake of the Onam festivities, and Delhi (6,842) that saw a new spike this week. While the health ministry data reflects the total cases recorded on Wednesday, the national capital maintained the same high growth on Thursday.

At a review meeting with Delhi officials, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan expressed concern over the surge in the number of cases and the high positivity rate in the North, Central, North East, East, North West, and South East districts of Delhi.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

A major point of worry is a highly skewed RAT (rapid antigen test) to RT-PCR (gold standard test) ratio - 77% of the tests are RAT based while RT-PCR comprises only 23% of the total tests. While experts suggest using RAT for community surveillance because it misses nearly 50% of cases.

In September, the Union Health Ministry had stated that nearly 56% of tests at the all India level are RT PCR while the rest is RAT. But it also pointed out the slippage by the states as many of them don’t follow the Indian Council of Medical Research protocol that calls for mandatory RT-PCR tests for each RAT negative.

Noting that false-negative results might give way to complacency among the Covid-19 infected, Vardhan on Thursday pressed for mandatory testing of all RAT negative persons if they develop symptoms of influenza-like illness or severe acute respiratory infection.